


Surviving the Dark

by Chibi_Pix



Series: Going in Blind: Pidge's Adventures [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Minor Violence, Serious Injuries, adding personalities to characters, as usual i beta my own work, i get nervous asking others to beta since i don't want to bother them, mentions of amputation, naming aliens, naming characters, rated for some language, rated for some violence, rebel coalition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24205147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibi_Pix/pseuds/Chibi_Pix
Summary: Being placed in a prison was not the worst that could happen to anyone, not even an Earthling so far from home. Matt learns this with ease and much to his disliking. But with the help of a couple of rebels, he finds a way to stay strong so he could one day find his family.
Series: Going in Blind: Pidge's Adventures [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717885
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Surviving the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This is in relation to Moments in the Dark. It would be advised to read the fifth chapter, ["It's not like I can judge you based on appearance."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840602/chapters/57958456#workskin), and the sixth chapter, ["If you stub your toe, there's only a 50% chance that it will hurt."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840602/chapters/58252999#workskin), before reading this, but that is up to you. The sixth chapter especially. Again, that is up to you.  
> This story does contain some language, some violence, and some descriptions of injuries. While some may not view it as bad or even needing a "Rated for teen and up" tag, I am putting it there to be safe.

_Matt blinked. He looked around his surroundings. Home. He was home? He couldn’t believe it. He actually made it back? Was being abducted all a dream?_

_“Matt? Matt!” came the call of his sister._

_“Pidge… Pidge!” Matt perked up. His sister’s voice. He never thought he would hear her voice again. He ran until he saw her, the girl standing there and calling out for him. Her purple_ _dress_ _blew in the wind, her hair, recently cut so it could be easily tamed since Chief didn’t know much about working with long hair,_ _was untamed and being messed up by the breeze, that or she just didn’t brush it herself_ _. She may have been rather independent, but Pidge found long hair to be problematic, but didn’t mind so long as her mother would help. “Pidge! You don’t know how much I missed you!” he told her as he ran over._

_Around him, the world felt_ _as though_ _it had slowed down. Something was wrong. Then there was a blast. He blinked and then looked around him. The world, his world, it had been attacked. He saw Pidge there on the ground, limp and simply lying there. “No… no!” He cried as he got to her, picking her up some and pulling his little sister to his lap._ _She was bleeding from various wounds and didn’t seem to be breathing._ _“Pidge? No, no no no, please, please Pidgeon, open your eyes. Please...” Tears welled up in his eyes. “This can’t be real… they couldn’t...” He looked up to see sentries surrounding him as battleships flew overhead. “Why? Why did this happen?”_

_“Why did you let it?” Matt looked to see Shiro there, the man donning_ _the_ _armor of a_ _Galran_ _soldier. No. This was wrong. Shiro would never… “I told you to find and protect your parents. You couldn’t even protect one blind girl.”_ _He pointed a blaster at his friend, looking ready to fire._

_“Shiro...” Matt’s eyes widened. “Please, don’t...”_

_“You’re weak, Matt.”_

Just as the shot rang out, Matt sat up, struggling to catch his breath. After a minute of reminding himself how to breathe, he glanced around. He wasn’t on Earth. He wasn’t cradling Pidge's limp and bloodied body. He was in a cell.

“Another nightmare?” Matt looked over to see a female alien, an Olkari he had been told before. Nightmare. Reality was not much better. She got up and went to where he saw, kneeling beside the Earthling and gently using her tattered tunic to wipe away the sweat that formed on his face. “If you want to talk about it, I can listen; on Olkarion, we feel that talking about things helps. It connects us more, helps us understand each other, and even gets it off our chest and let others help us.”

Matt looked away. Call it childish, especially for a man who was twenty one, maybe twenty two, not that he could tell how much time had passed, but he didn’t want to get close to anyone. He was scared. He was so far from home, his parents and Shiro could easily be dead already, but his only salvation is knowing his baby sister was safe on Earth. But for how long? How long until that nightmare of the Galra taking Earth would become reality?

“Don’t bother, Eis’at.” a four armed alien, an Unilu, called out from the other side of the cell. “He hasn’t spoken since the second day he was brought in, I don’t think that’s going to change.”

“Well you can’t blame me for trying, Toval.” Eis’at stated. She looked to Matt, changing her position so she was sitting more comfortably. “I know this must be scary, but… you need to be strong, okay?” She reached over and brushed his hair out of his face. Matt didn’t understand her one bit; she didn’t even know him, she didn’t even know what he was, yet she was so kind and gentle, able to accept him.

Matt didn’t speak. He was scared and he worried that trying to speak, he would simply break. He closed his eyes, focusing on the events that led up to him being in that cell. He was abducted from his mission on Kerberos. When they were brought to what was called _Central Command_ , he was separated from his parents. He didn’t know where Sam and Colleen were taken to, but hopefully it wasn’t worse than where he had been taken to with Shiro. The arena.

Matt feared for his lift there. He saw a match before his as he waited with the other prisoners. He watched as a prisoner had been hit enough times that they were spitting up blood. The enemy, Myzax, having toyed with them before finally ending their life.

_“Hopefully this next group will be more lively and entertaining.”_ He remembered the cold words of the guards. A weapon was then pointed at him. They wanted him, a small Earthling, to fight first.

That was when Shiro seemed to attack him, craving violence, blood, and the need to fight. Matt was terrified. But then those gray eyes softened. _“Find your parents, Matt. Find and protect them.”_ he pleaded gently before he was yanked off of the smaller and younger Earthling. Instead of Matt being the first of that group to fight, Shiro was selected instead, the guards amused by his desire to fight.

Matt’s leg hurt; he wasn’t walking well for a few days. Due to being injured by Shiro, the guards decided to send him elsewhere, deciding he wouldn’t be entertaining enough in the arena. He didn’t know how long ago that was. Days? Weeks? Maybe months? Surely not years, right? Either way, his leg did recover; it was probably just bruised. Shiro would never truly harm him.

His nightmare was a liar in telling him that his friend would.

Matt didn’t realize that he zoned out until something poked his cheek. He looked to see Eis’at near again and handing him a pouch. Goo. Rations. Disgusting crap. He grimaced a bit.

“I know it’s gross, but you need your strength.” Eis’at reminded.

“What for?” Matt asked. “It’s not like we’ll survive...”

Eis’at’s eyes softened. She knew the look in Matt’s eyes; the light had dimmed and he no longer had a will to fight. She had to do something. She couldn’t let him just resign to his fate; if he did that, he truly would die there without a chance to be free.

“Who’s Pidge?” she finally asked.

“What?” Matt looked up, some light returning to those honey coloured eyes.

“You call out that name a lot.” Eis’at sat down next to Matt, handing him the ration meant for him as she gently sipped on hers. “She your girlfriend?” She had a bit of a mischievous look on her face.

“No, nothing like that. She’s… more important than a girlfriend.” Matt admitted. He opened his ration and dared take a sip. Gross. Bitter. But it did fill the emptiness of his stomach; he just hoped he could keep it down since he hadn’t been eating much lately, going less and less each day with his sadness. “She’s my baby sister; she’s back on Earth, my planet.”

“She must really be important.” Eis’at commented. “What’s she like?” She hoped that getting Matt to talk about her would help him.

“Sassy. A bit of a pain in the ass. Overall amazing and the best sister ever.” Matt declared. “She’s… completely blind. She can’t see at all, but she never let that stop her. She was determined to prove she could do anything anyone else could.” He chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past her to find a way to be a pilot with her situation; she’s smart enough for that. Dad especially believed she would one day be able to fly and have a crew.”

“Then be strong for her.” Eis’at reminded. “So you can one day return to her.”

Matt didn’t know why it took until then to realize that he had a reason to keep fighting, to be strong, to never give up. He had to return to Pidge one day. He smiled his thanks before gulping down the rest of his ration, shuddering at the taste and texture as it went down. “Ugh! That’d be a lot easier if this stuff didn’t taste like orange juice, toothpaste, vinegar, and mustard with the texture of kiwano. Then again, I think I’d choose the kiwano’s texture over this.”

Eis’at giggled. She didn’t know what most of those were, but it still amused her. “Yeah, it’s not the best, but it’ll keep you going.”

“If seeing your sister again doesn’t encourage you to try and get out of here, then getting away from this crap sure will.” Toval laughed out, causing Matt to chuckle.

“Anyway, I’m Eis’at. That’s Toval. We didn’t get your name.”

“Matthew Holt. But… most just call me _Matt_.”

It was then that Matt started talking with the others more, opening up and no longer sulking or having a pity party of one. Matt listened to what they had to say and even talked about his life. Amazingly, he found out that Eis’at and Toval already knew each other before being imprisoned, the two having been rebels and working together. They were captured on a mission, but they weren’t giving up.

There were worse things than being in a prison, such as the arena. However, this did not mean a prison was the best option if you absolutely had to be captured by the Galra. He learned the hard way that the Galra were definitely not the only bloodthirsty species out there.

“Stay away from her!” Matt snapped at a larger alien. He shielded and protected Eis’at. She had accidentally bumped into another prisoner, this one who, logically, should not have been kept with the other prisoners. However, those in charge and guarding thought it would be entertaining to see what would happen. More than his size, which wouldn’t have had him isolated, he was very violent, even destroying sentries at times. They may not have been in the arena, but fights still happened and they were between prisoners.

Guards only interfered when a higher ranking officer or commander would order them to or just before someone died. For people meant to keep things in order, to Matt, they sure did a shitty job.

“And who is going to make me?” the alien snarled, putting his face in Matt’s. “You?” He threw his head back and barked out a laugh. Matt had seen enough movies to know it wouldn’t end with that, but he still wasn’t prepared. He was smacked to the side and his whole body felt sore. “Learn to pick your fights, you little worm.” The alien took slow and steady steps toward the Earthling. Once in front, he lifted him up by the front of his tunic. “Or maybe you won’t live long enough to have another one.”

The alien slammed Matt down onto the ground. He felt dizzy when his head bounced a bit, hitting hard; a hit like that, he would be surprised if he didn’t have a concussion. Then came a kick to the side. Bruised ribs would be a godsend, but he was certain they were broken; if he moved wrong, he risked puncturing a vital organ.

The worst, though, was when the alien slammed his foot down on Matt’s knee, the same one Shiro had bruised a while back to get him out of the arena. He tried out in pain, that one hurting the most as his knee practically bent the wrong way. He was certain that he would be in a worse condition if it weren’t for the lead commander of that location calling for the guards to put an end to the situation.

Matt felt his body quake with pain. He did all he could to stay awake, though; the biggest thing he was taught when it came to a possible concussion as to not fall asleep if possible. But the pain was too much and he lost consciousness.

-+-+-+-

When Matt came to, he was grateful that he didn’t seem to have any nightmares. He found himself looking at Eis’at as she dabbed his forehead, clearing away the sweat. He grumbled a bit, realizing how much pain he was in.

“Try not to move.” Eis’at instructed. “You’ve got three broken ribs, surprisingly they all weren’t broken, some head trauma, and your knee is busted; the Galra didn’t provide much, only the minimal so we could splint your knee and keep it together.”

“I feel… weird...” Matt mumbled. He felt tired and out of it, like he couldn’t focus. The only thing he could focus on was the pain.

Eis’at looked to Toval who nodded. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness for several days. I think with the damage to your knee, an infection set in… but we can’t treat it… and the Galra...” She shook her head. “I’m sorry...”

Matt took in a deep breath. He knew with news like that, it was not a good situation for him. If, no, when the infection got worse, it could spread through his entire body, even into his blood, and go to his heart. It would not be a quick and painless death.

“Just hold on, Matt.” Toval said, going over and joining them. “We’re not giving up; we’re working on a way out of here and to get back with the others. You’ll be treated there.”

Matt gave a hopeful smile, but he really didn’t want to get his hopes up. He couldn’t help but worry that he wouldn’t make it to see his parents again. To see Pidge once more. He closed his eyes, letting himself envision his baby sister before he lost consciousness again.

-+-+-+-

The pain subsided, or maybe he was just numb and used to it. Alongside that, though, he could feel himself growing sicker and weaker. He didn’t know how far the infection spread, but it surely had to be. On top of that, with the broken ribs, he found it hard to breathe. It wasn’t that they punctured anything, he was sure he wasn’t experiencing that, but each breath just felt uncomfortable; it was painful if he started coughing.

As the days went by, he felt more and more that opening up and being hopeful before was definitely a mistake. He truly felt he wouldn’t make it out of there alive. At least not until he heard an explosion somewhere in the prison.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking to the cell door.

Toval ran to it to check. He had a big grin on his face. “This is what we were waiting for; Eis’at, keep Matt covered.”

“Right!” The Olkari nodded and went to Matt, the Earthling greatly confused.

Toval remained at the door, looking out the small opening there. He smiled when he noticed others in the hall before whistling at them. He was quick to back off and get over to the others before the door was blown up. Then in came another figure, tall, thing, and with feathered ears sticking out from their mask.

“C’mon,” she called to them, “we need to get out of here now; we don’t have much more of an open window.”

“What about Matt?” Eis’at asked. “We can’t leave him here and he’s hurt.”

The masked rebel stared for a moment before rushing over to him as he coughed from the dust stirred up by the explosion; it made his ribs hurt. “Sorry about this.” she said as she quickly picked him up by his middle, the pain getting worse. At least, though, he was carried because he was certain his knee wouldn’t hold out.

Matt looked behind the rebel carrying him, seeing sentries show up. It was the last thing he saw before he finally lost consciousness.

_I know I may die out here… and I don’t want to._ The thought drifted through his mind. _I want to find Mom and Dad; I want to find Shiro. Most of all… I want to get home to Pidge. But… if I have to die, at least I may not die as a prisoner…_

-+-+-+-

When Matt came to, he felt surprisingly better, aware, and- “Ah, shit...” he grumbled, the pain in his side intense.

“Sorry about that; we expected you to wake up soon, so we didn’t give you anymore pain killers. We need to be able to see how you’re doing and what you feel helps with that.”

Matt looked over to see a rebel there, but she wasn’t the one who carried him. This one reminded him of a dog. “Huh? Sherlock Hound?” he questioned.

“What the ruggle?” She looked confused. “My name is Olia.”

“Sorry… Earth reference… ugh… I feel like crap…” Matt grumbled.

“Just take it easy.” Olia told him as she did a scan, checking his temperature. “You still need time to recover.”

“Where am I?”

“A rebel base; when you’re more aware and can move around again, we’ll let you know more.” Olia informed. “But just know you’re safe; Te-Osh will be back soon. When she arrives, I’ll let Eis’at and Toval back in to see you.”

“I’m here now; I want to talk with him before I allow other visitors.” Te-Osh commented as she entered the room through a curtain, her mask off and face showing. “Olia, you have a call from your sons.”

“Oh yeah, it’s about that time, isn’t it?” Olia chuckled; she had a schedule for talking with her sons who were safe in another location with their aunt. She leaned over and kissed Matt on the forehead; at first he was confused why, but then he realized it was her motherly side and she saw him as a child. “Behave yourself; you don’t want to make anything worse. Not that… not that you can get far.” She gave a sincere smile though her eyes looked a little sad. After that, she dismissed herself.

“Olia’s not the eldest, but she is most notable as the mom of the group. She mothers everyone here and still has time to contact her two pups.” Te-Osh informed Matt as she sat on the chair near the bed. “I’m not going to sugar coat anything for you, things aren’t good and your condition when we got you back to base was horrible.”

“That’s a realistic start.” Matt commented. “Harsh, but realistic.”

“Your leg was badly injured.” Matt nodded, remembering that much. “The infection spread… and to save your life, we had to remove it.” Matt’s eyes widened. That would explain why he felt so clear and didn’t feel anything there; they stopped the infection by amputating his leg. “We would have used medicine to treat it, but it spread too much… it was easier to cut it off and heal what’s left to keep you alive.”

Matt lifted his hands, wiggling his fingers. “At least I have my hands; I was better at typing than walking anyway; I’d be teased about how I run into things and stub my toes more often than my sister.” He smiled a bit, but it was sad.

Te-Osh didn’t miss the sadness and she offered a gentle smile, just as motherly as Olia’s. “You won’t be without help. We’re already working on a prosthetic, if you want it. It’ll help you walk again. After you recover more.” Matt blinked. A new leg? They went ahead and started working on it? “It’ll be robotic, giving you full movement as though it were biological. It will hurt getting it applied and you’ll need to get used to it, but you will be able to move again. And return home one day; we can’t do much to help with that, but we can help some.”

Matt closed his eyes. He envisioned his nightmare of the Galra attacking Earth and his sister dead in his arms. “Te-Osh, right?” Matt inquired. “If… If I stay with you… maybe I can learn to fight? Learn to help… and maybe help stop the war?” He sighed. “I have a sister I care so much for back home… as far as I know, Earth is safe… and I want to keep it that way...”

Te-Osh stared for a moment before nodding. “We’ll help you get back on your feet.” she said. “You have something worth fighting for and that’s going to help you.” She ran a hand through Matt’s hair. “I’ll let Eis’at and Toval visit since they seem fond of you. When you’re feeling up to it and better, you can meet the others here. And word of advice, don’t argue with Olia about your rest and recovery; she tends to ground others when she sees fit.”

-+-+-+-

Matt used his staff, blocking Te-Osh’s strike and pushing her back and down. He then pushed the end to her chest, pinning her. He had been there for a few months, learning to work with his leg, tweaking it as needed so it felt comfortable and natural, training to fight, and overall becoming the best rebel he could be, helping the group with fighting, salvaging, and even translating messages they could get from Galra radio chatter. On Earth, he figured it would take at least a year, if not more, to get accustomed to things. But out there with the new and more advanced technology compared to what Earthlings could create, it didn’t take too long. Or perhaps it was his dedication and drive that made it easier and helped him adapt.

“Nice work, Matt; you’ve come a long way.” Te-Osh praised as she pushed the staff to the side. She moved to get up and smiled when Matt offered his hand to her. With that, she stood up. “Sorry about the scratch.” It wasn’t too deep, but she had a feeling that it would scar.

“Eh, it’s not that bad; I’ve been hurt worse.” Matt joked. He yelped when she smacked him upside his head. “Okay, okay, bad joke. But in my defense, bad jokes run in the family as much as being pains in the ass and love of technology.”

“Remind me not to meet your family.” Te-Osh teased.

“Usually safer that way.” Matt chuckled. “Mom can be stubborn and scary, but I think that’s just a mom thing as I’ve learned from Olia, Dad’s a bit eccentric at times, but he is more mellow compared to everyone else, and Pidge… well… if anyone tells you that she’s never done a bad thing in her life… don’t listen to them. She once blew up the power grid in our neighbourhood when she was seven and apparently trying to build a death ray like in an old movie we watched.”

“She sounds… interesting.” Te-Osh snickered a bit. “Anyway, we’ve done training for the day, now to go through the data we’ve been picking up on; maybe we have some good intel.”

“Maybe we can find the rest of the team?” In the months that Matt had gotten to know the other rebels, at least in that sector, he found himself fond of their company. But at some point they were taken captive and like the others, he worried about them.

“Maybe.” Te-Osh nodded. “How’s that leg doing? It’s been some months, but...”

“Well, I think I’ve stopped limping, it occasionally needs a little tweaking but I’m good at that, but overall,” Matt moved to balance on his mechanical leg, “it feels perfect. It doesn’t hurt when I stub my toe, it gets me where I need to go, and it moves like my other, giving me full mobility. It’s perfect.”

“That’s good to hear.” Te-Osh stopped when she heard a crash from near the base. The other rebels heard it, too, but no one really reacted too much; debris moved all the time in that nebula full of junk; Matt referred to it as the trash nebula. “Hmm, I wonder what that’s about.”

“Should we check it out?” Matt asked.

“I’ll go check it; I need to get out and stretch anyway, check a satellite of ours that’s been malfunctioning; you go ahead and help out in here.” Te-Osh stated.

“Okay, be safe; call if you need any of us.” Matt said as he went to sit with the others, going over data while Te-Osh stepped out.

On that particular day, after over a year of enduring being a prisoner and training as a rebel, there was one thing he absolutely did not expect. During his time as a rebel, he tried to find his parents and Shiro, but to no avail. Then on that day, the unexpected and extraordinary came to him like a brick wall… an oddly welcomed brick wall.

“Matt.” Te-Osh spoke up, getting his attention as well as of the other rebels. “You didn’t tell me how alike you and your sister look.”

Why would he? “Huh? What do you-” Matt was confused. But then he saw her standing near Te-Osh. He saw a face so much like his own. It couldn’t be possible. His baby sister, sweet and demonic alike, was right there. This had to be an illusion, right? It had to be a joke? He didn’t want to believe that she was really there, but he could see her, as real as his mechanical leg. He found a part of his family, but surely the part he never expected way out in space. “Pidge?” he asked as he slowly stood up. “It’s… it’s really you?”

“Matt?” Pidge asked, her head lifting up more when she heard his voice. He smiled. Her voice, it was just as he remembered it.

Matt was excited as he ran over to Pidge. At first his steps were slow, the rebel still unsure if this was real, but then he ran for her and picked her up; she had dropped whatever was in her hand, a staff that deactivated into something smaller and handheld.

“I found you… I finally found you...” Pidge practically cried as she wrapped her limbs around him.

“How is this possible?” Matt spun around; it was a surprise he didn’t fall over. He was just too excited to have Pidge there and able to hug her. It scared him, here his blind baby sister was right in front of him in outer space, but it also filled him with joy. He finally set her down and cupped her cheeks. “I can’t believe it… you’re actually here and in space. How...”

“It’s a long story and we can talk about it later.” Pidge told him as she put her hands over his. “But… oh Matt… I’m so happy. I’m so glad I found you.” She smiled and leaned forward a bit, the prompt getting Matt to do the same as they pressed their foreheads together. “Even when the Garrison reported you guys as dead, I knew you weren’t. Deep inside I knew… and it was only shown more when Shiro came back… but now I found you.”

“You found me, Pidge. You definitely did.” Matt whispered. “But how… I...”

“Would you believe it if I told you I’m a pilot of my own ship and flew out here?” Pidge asked. “Okay, I crashed, but in my defense, my ship lost power.”

“Um… what?” Matt blinked.

“Matt, bring your sister over here; she can tell you while I check her over.” Olia called. Hearing that Pidge crashed, her mother instincts showed up and she wanted to make sure the girl in green armor was safe.

“While you do that,” Te-Osh took a Galra drone over to Eis’at, “this needs to be repaired.”

“I can repair Rover myself.” Pidge said.

“You worry about making sure you’re fine, we’ll handle your seeing-eye drone.” Te-Osh reminded.

“C’mon, pup,” Olia went over and put a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, “let’s get you checked out while you tell us your story; I bet it’s an interesting one.”

Matt watched as Olia sat down with Pidge, the young man unable to help but stare. There she was, his baby sister. She was as blind as could be, something he even informed the others when he spoke about her at times. But she was out there in space and in the trash nebula, having actually flown, or rather chased but close enough, a ship? He was worried for her safety but he was also amazed.

“Looks like Dad was right; you found a way to fly.” he said softly as he went over to join the others, listening to Pidge talk about Voltron and the others in her group.

**Author's Note:**

> First off, Matt's mention of the kiwano fruit came from my experience. I don't know if it was overly ripe or not, but when I tried that for the first time many years ago, it was the worst texture I had in my mouth. Ugh.  
> Second, Matt calling Olia _Sherlock Hound_ comes from one of my researches bringing up Lauren Montgomery apparently confirming that Olia was a homage to the Sherlock Hound series (which I have not watched; maybe I should find where I could. Hmm...)  
> Anyway! I hope you guys enjoyed this side story to get to know Matt's side of things. From the start of writing Moments in the Dark, I knew I wanted to write a side story for him. And here we have it!


End file.
